Dillard, who ran for the GOP gubernatorial nomination in 2010, is a candidate again. He trails businessman Bruce Rauner in the polls--who has made what Michael Bloomberg calls the labor-electoral complex, deservedly so, an main issue in his campaign. Public sector unions, aided by Democrats and a few Republicans, have destroyed Illinois' finances. The Prairie State is burdened by $100 billion in unfunded pension debt.
AFSCME, the state's largest public sector union, is endorsing Dillard, as is the state's largest teacher's union, the Illinois Education Association as well as another government-school union, the Illinois Federation of Teachers. The IEA has contributed $100,000 to Dillard's campaign.
While some political observers have argued that Big Labor's move is an attempt to block Rauner and they view Dillard as the devil-they-know, I have to counter that if Dillard was the conservative he claims to be, he would declined these endorsements and Big Labor's money.
Dillard has also collected private sector union cash too.
UPDATE 9:30pm CDT: Something called the Illinois Freedom PAC has been running TV commercials all over this state.
The Chicago Tribune unmasked them a few days ago:
On Monday, state financial disclosure reports showed the political arm of the Illinois Education Association, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the Service Employees International Union each donated $300,000 to Illinois Freedom.Oh yes, I'm voting for Rauner--he gets the Marathon Pundit endorsement. If Big Labor hates Rauner so much, then he's doing something right.
The PAC has raised $3.3 million. SEIU has donated more than $842,000, while the IEA and AFSCME each have contributed $800,000. Rauner has decried the influence of "government union bosses" in Springfield as part of his campaign.
Technorati tags:
Illinois 
politics 
chicago 
republicans 
Illinois Politics 
democrats
No comments:
Post a Comment